Clairvoyance EX (Mist

The Onmyoji wearing a tall hat seemed to be a very young man, handsome in appearance, dressed in a deep blue Onmyoji hunting robe, with an extraordinary bearing.

The woman dressed as a warrior looked valiant and heroic, her gaze sharp. Even while seated across from him, she never forgot to keep watching him with a scrutinizing look.

Gu Mo calmly swept his gaze over the two of them. Since he had already made some guesses and prepared himself before coming to meet them, he was not surprised in the slightest at this moment, appearing utterly composed. His gaze passed over their heads, and, as expected, he saw their IDs.

--"Abe no Seimei (100%)."

--"Minamoto no Raikou (100%)."

Perhaps because he knew who these two were, their corresponding IDs had appeared instead of being nothing but a string of question marks.

So it really was this pair of lovers, and they had even come looking for him themselves... Clearly, there should not have been anything like this in the original plot. So was it really because he had inserted himself into this story and caused the butterfly effect to spread?

Emmmm, that did not seem quite right either. Although it was not shown in the main storyline, Abe no Seimei seemed to have been one of Hidechiyo's teachers, specifically her teacher of Onmyoji Magic.

He had originally thought it was merely a gameplay design, but considering that Hidechiyo would later travel to Heian-kyō and had indeed dealt with Abe no Seimei of that era, and that when Abe no Seimei's original body sacrificed himself to seal the Three Great Yokai, he seemed to have left behind a Shikigami Paper Doll to arrange matters after his death.

Then was there reason to believe... that this was indeed what had happened? Since Abe no Seimei's paper doll knew about time travel, it had specifically sought out Hidechiyo in this era to teach her Onmyoji Magic, while secretly making arrangements to guide her future journey through time?

It was something that would have happened anyway, only his interference had changed it slightly. For example, Minamoto no Raikou had appeared as well. He wondered whether she was also a paper doll incarnation...

And rather than seeking out Axiu, they had named him specifically and come for him first thing. That also seemed to indirectly suggest that he would likely participate in the battle of Demonic Heian-kyō in the future...

At that thought, Gu Mo's gaze became slightly unfocused.

What a strange thing. If his speculation was true, that meant that in this Dungeon World, his future self had already been active in an earlier era... While his current self, still a newbie player, was carefully clearing and progressing through this Sengoku Period, there might also be a future version of himself, already a seasoned veteran, farming Dungeons in the earlier Demonic Heian-kyō?

Although his daily life had gradually fallen apart ever since the Idiot System attached itself to him, and everything in the world had long since become fantastical, this bizarre temporal phenomenon involving logical order and causal sequence was still deeply perplexing.

--Of course, that probably had a lot to do with his progression being completely off.

As the first Dungeon he had seriously attempted to clear, this world's level was far too high. It was not something a newbie like him should be touching. Ordinary people had to contend with raging warfare, chaos and displacement, the emergence of wild souls... At higher levels, there were all manner of unbelievable divine and Buddhist powers, time travel...

The resurrection from death brought by Divine Protection, even eternal youth and immortality, all existed. Mystic Arts could also be developed to an extremely terrifying degree, such as restoring the spiritual forms of gods and Buddhas to the human world, or pushing alchemy's Human Transmutation to near perfection. Perhaps the next step would be opening the Gate of Truth...

So it was no wonder he found it too fantastical. A newcomer who had just entered the game should have been grinding goblins in the Forest of Gran, leveling up step by step, and only touching high-difficulty Dungeons after their character had taken shape. That was the normal pace.

"Lord Castle Lord? Lord Castle Lord?"

The tall-hatted man across from him had worn a gentle smile at first, but when he saw the person before him studying the two of them with a strange expression before spacing out over who knew what, his own expression changed slightly as well.

Giving the valiant female warrior beside him a look, Abe no Seimei stopped Minamoto no Raikou from doing anything out of impatience. He called out a few more times, and only relaxed slightly when he saw the other man's eyes refocus on him.

Perhaps the other party simply did not know him and had merely drifted off in thought, the Onmyoji thought. At the same time, he clasped his hands in greeting and spoke unhurriedly. "Lord Gu Mo, it is truly discourteous of us to seek an audience so abruptly... I am Kuzunoha, an Onmyoji who roams the world."

Kuzunoha?

Had he chosen that alias because of his mother? Gu Mo nodded thoughtfully, his gaze once more sweeping over the ID above the other's head. When he was not looking at them, IDs and Health Bars remained hidden, but the moment he focused his attention, the information immediately popped up.

Heh, did not expect that, did you? I already met you in the game, and you still want to play dumb with me now?

Yet outwardly, he remained calm. With an indifferent expression, Gu Mo nodded lightly. "That is no matter. Let us get straight to the point. May I ask... what have you come to find me for, Kuzunoha? After all, I only arrived here at Sagiyama Castle this evening."

Abe no Seimei's expression became somewhat strange. He hesitated, feeling that the other's behavior seemed as though he already knew something. Especially when he called his name, there had been something odd about it, as though he knew his true name but was playing along with the act.

But that should not be possible... At this point, the other party was still relatively weak, completely ordinary aside from his Guardian Spirit. There was truly nothing special about him. He should not know.

So after a brief hesitation, he continued wearing that gentle smile and decided to reveal part of the truth first. "Lord Castle Lord, we actually met once several days ago. That was outside Inabayama Castle, when we saw each other from afar. You must have seen us then as well."

After thinking it over, Abe no Seimei concluded that since they had been spotted back then, the other party had become suspicious after seeing the two of them arrive at his door so soon afterward, believing there was something wrong with them.

Having reached that conclusion, the Onmyoji felt somewhat helpless. Had he known, he would not have gone to seek out the two of them then. He should have simply waited here at Sagiyama Castle... That way, this man would not have become prejudiced against them from the start, and negotiations would have gone much more smoothly.

"...Mm."

Gu Mo stared at the two people opposite him. After a moment, he slowly nodded without saying anything.

They had met before? Why did he have absolutely no memory of that? He could not recall it at all... Wait, could those two Health Bars he had seen from afar and mistaken for wild monsters have been these two? He had really never considered that!

Just as I thought. That makes things easier... Abe no Seimei nodded lightly, revealing a relaxed smile as he carefully chose his words. "Actually, our encounter then was not a coincidence. We went there specifically to see you, Lord Castle Lord, mainly to confirm something."

He intended to change tactics and explain this easily misunderstood point, explaining why they had done it. In any case, he needed to gain the other's trust first.

"Oh? What might that be?"

Gu Mo nodded calmly, asking as if he were both patient and interested.

"Before I explain, please allow me to keep you in suspense for a moment... Lord Castle Lord, may I ask if you know about Onmyoji?" Abe no Seimei asked, the smile on his face as gentle as before.

In this current Sengoku Period, imperial authority had declined, and the warrior class ruled the land. Onmyoji had gradually faded from the stage of history as well. But for a long period in the past, the Onmyoji, who had learned yin-yang theory and the Five Elements through envoys sent to Tang China and had gradually become popular in Japan, had been an extremely sought-after profession.

Court nobles needed Onmyoji to obtain spiritual peace and security for the state, while commoners found solace from their arduous lives through them. Moreover, in those unenlightened times, driving out yokai and dispelling curses all depended on the talismans and Mystic Arts of Onmyoji. They could be called the spiritual pillars of the entire country.

Abe no Seimei raised this question because he wanted to use it as an opening.

If the other party already believed strongly in the power of Onmyoji at this time, everything would be easy. But if he was more skeptical, Seimei could simply show off a little, proving that he truly possessed real ability and naturally leading into what he wanted to say next.

For example, he could say that he had divined fortune and misfortune and foreseen a great change in the future, that the other party was a person chosen by fate and destined to save the world, which was why the two of them had found him and wished to lend him a hand, so that when the destined future arrived, he would have the power to change everything... That sort of routine.

However--

"Onmyoji? Of course I know them. This game has no SSR." Gu Mo continued nodding.

How could he possibly not know? He was extremely familiar with that.

"..."

"..."

An awkward silence.

Abe no Seimei opened his mouth, looking as though he had frozen completely. That expression was rare on him. Even Minamoto no Raikou, who seemed somewhat hot-tempered and impulsive, could not help but glance at him a few more times.

But in the next moment, he suddenly laughed bitterly and shook his head repeatedly. "So Lord Gu Mo really does know everything. I thought you were joking..." Then, as though recalling something, he tapped his head with the fan in his hand in frustration. "You had already hinted at it so clearly just now, yet I still refused to believe it. I have truly made a fool of myself before you."

Gu Mo, who had just been about to explain that it was a joke, swallowed the words that had reached his lips.

An awkward yet polite smile appeared on his face, while his thoughts raced wildly. What? What was this guy talking about? Why could he not understand a single word?

"Then the Clairvoyance you once told me about, Lord Gu Mo, was all real after all..."

Abe no Seimei studied Gu Mo's eyes with approval. They were clear and bright, yet he could not see anything unusual about them. It was precisely because of that that he found them all the more astonishing.

"Eyes that were born able to gaze upon the world and see through the past and future... Such favor from heaven is truly unimaginable. I have been ignorant and poorly informed."

Emmmm... Clairvoyance? Seeing through the past and future?

Gu Mo blinked, roughly understanding what was going on. Had his future self, when he was in the past, made up some nonsense for this great Onmyoji? Including settings like "Clairvoyance," and even claims like "Onmyoji has no SSR"?

His previous thoughts about himself traveling through time as well, and all the butterfly effects that caused, had only been speculation. While he possessed a certain degree of foresight, it was generally limited to the origins and outcomes of major events. He knew little about the overlooked details and could only make connections and deductions based on his own understanding and clues.

The time span in the game was simply too vast for every single detail to be shown. The gaps between story quests ranged from several months or years to spans of ten, even dozens of years.

There were occasionally side quests interspersed between them, mixed with fragmented clues and bits of information. Only by putting them together could one vaguely infer the whole picture... Thus, even though Gu Mo was racking his brain with all his might at this moment, he could only form a hypothesis. Based on the clues he possessed, it was very likely, but he could not be completely certain.

Yet now, what Abe no Seimei said was extremely powerful corroboration...

"I have truly made a fool of myself, but this is good too..." Abe no Seimei sighed, then smiled again. "This means Raiko and I need not worry about how to explain our origins to you in a way you can accept. To be honest, that was quite a headache."

"It is nothing much. You are both renowned figures. Using the same names would probably invite criticism, so using aliases is not a bad idea."

Gu Mo still had many things he did not understand, but he followed the general train of thought and spoke along with the other's words, wearing a calm and assured expression... Though he did not know every detail, he understood the broad situation. Besides, his current persona was that of a prophet!

"That is true, but Raiko and I never intended to appear before others in the first place..."

Abe no Seimei shook his head.

"We are merely paper shikigami carrying a trace of our Divided Spirits from before death. Though we retain all the memories and knowledge of our original selves, we are not complete living beings in the end. And in the blink of an eye, several centuries have passed. Even though we have been nourished by spirit stones, our condition is far from what it once was..."

He spoke openly, then pointed his fan at himself and Minamoto no Raikou beside him.

"There is little we can do now. We can only honor our agreement and teach you what we can while these paper incarnations still function, before the seal at Byōdō-in loosens... Well, Onmyoji Magic is the only thing I can offer, while Raiko also possesses some unique skills. I hope you and Lady Hidechiyo will not find them lacking."

The valiant female warrior snorted softly, but she tacitly agreed. This was a closed loop--

Seimei and she would wholeheartedly teach these two, allowing them to grow quickly. In the end, guided by fate, they would resolve the Three Great Yokai that Seimei and she could only seal away...

Likewise, guided by fate, the grown-up pair returned to the past and helped the living original bodies of Seimei and her. That was why the two of them knew to find a way to leave behind paper dolls, so they could in turn help them grow in later generations.